1989: Tomorrow’s Schools
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Today in New Zealand history, 24 April, 1989, the first Board of Trustee elections were held in accord with the new Tomorrow’s Schools policy of the re-elected Labour 4.0 Ministry. Our primary schools had long since been captured by The State and their grip tightened more over time. Yet, here was a government letting go […]
Read more..April 24, 2023
1791: Chatham Islands Discovered
By AHNZ
Captain George Vancouver died today in history (12 May 1798¹) aged just 40. He first visited New Zealand as a teenage officer on Cook’s second expedition in 1773. The following year they discovered Norfolk Island, the naming of which may have been influenced by Vancouver’s home county, Norfolk, England. Vancouver’s statue stands by the sea […]
Read more..May 13, 2019
1986: Bilingual Egmont
By AHNZ
David Lange’s Labour 6.0 Ministry had Mr Koro Wetere as its Minister for Maori Affairs as well as Minister of Lands. Koro’s seat was Western Maori too so he had some home bias to contend with when it came to being in “the hot seat” over the re-naming of Mt Egmont to Mount Taranaki. The […]
Read more..May 29, 2025
1941: Auckland Mayor John Allum
By AHNZ
Today in New Zealand history, 28 May, 1941, John Allum became the mayor of Auckland. This portrait (left) has been mothballed for decades in the city archives. They didn’t even know who it was and that it was someone else! Only turned up because the archives were being shifted to the North Shore to (I […]
Read more..May 28, 2025
1922: Girdleston Peak War Memorial
By AHNZ
World War 1 memorial destroyed by a Maori activist and a Feminist writer. New Zealanders owe a great debt to the contributions of its early surveyors as well as the ANZAC soldiers. Sergeant Hubert Girdlestone (1879-1918) was both of these in one. Hugh, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, had the misfortune to be killed […]
Read more..May 27, 2025
1968: Inangahua Earthquake
By AHNZ
Most of New Zealand felt the earthquake (7.1) that struck the settlement of Inangahua today in history, Friday May 24, 1968, at 5.24am. Three people were killed and 14 counted as injured. Great video here from Nelson Provincial Museum showing the damage and hurt. 70% Of the dwellings in the town were made uninhabitable. Aftershocks […]
Read more..May 24, 2025
1914: St Kilda Community Library
By AHNZ
In St Kilda, Dunedin, a perfectly good Anarchist library is about to be replaced by a government one. The 1914 St Kilda Community Library didn’t tax anyone. It was run by voluntary effort for 110 years. “The library has been run and kept open by volunteers since its inception.” “The library originally opened in April […]
Read more..May 24, 2025
1988: Fencing of Swimming Pools
By AHNZ
On 20 July 1987 the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act gained assent and commencement. It came into force the following year on 1 May and applied to everyone with an existing swimming pool, 1 September for new pools. New Zealanders who wished to keep their property, their pools, would now have to fence them off. […]
Read more..May 16, 2025
1988: Richard and Judy
By AHNZ
Worship the anthropocentric hardware of the teleprompter… “Much of the attention focused on newsreaders, their jobs being about as simple as any known to mankind. A stop-go sign holder at roadworks literally has more intellectual demands placed on him or her than someone robotically reading the lines from a screen. This celebrity treatment of newsreaders […]
Read more..May 11, 2025
1980: Jones on Progeny
By AHNZ
The famous New Zealander, Bob Jones (1939- 2/May/2025) has just died. Businessman, writer, commentator, teacher, humorist, art collector. Only weeks ago he was writing articles and giving long radio interviews. He said he purchased books in triplicate for his 3 libraries in his houses around the world that he would flit between. He had a […]
Read more..May 7, 2025
1903: Canterbury Weka Wiped Out
By AHNZ
Amusing to see that a woodhen managed to hop a ride coast to coast. From an Inangahua campsite on the West Coast it jumped into the vehicle of some campers who discovered the bird when they returned to Christchurch. No weka, aka New Zealand hen, aka Maori hen have been in the wild in Canterbury […]
Read more..May 6, 2025
